


Prompted

by Burning_Nightingale



Category: Black Magician Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Humor, Crush, Dark Past, Drabble Collection, F/M, Humor, M/M, Nightmares, Quotations, Unrequited Love, haunted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-01
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-11-06 13:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burning_Nightingale/pseuds/Burning_Nightingale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four prompts, four drabbles. Cery muses, Akkarin angsts, Lorlen gets stared at and strange things occur at Circle K.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prompted

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt challenge at the BMT forum. The first two are serious and Canon, the other two are Modern AU. 
> 
> Disclaimer: All recognisable trademarks belong to their original owner, Trudi Canavan. All quotes belong to their respective owners.

**~Crush~**

_"See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!_

_O that I were a glove upon that hand,_

_that I might touch that cheek!" - William Shakespeare,_ Romeo and Juliet

He's been watching her almost the whole night now. There's a small balcony just outside her window, and she leans upon the edge, sighing as she stares into the moonlit night. Oh, how beautiful she is. He's never really thought about it like that before…But seeing her here, surrounded by wealth, makes her seem so far…

It's like he never even knew her at all.

The truth clings unhappily in his breast; the fact that she belongs here now, can never hope to be his. But for one moment, as she looks out into the night, no one else is here but him. No one else can savour this moment as he does. No one else knows her, in this quiet moment, as he does.

And somehow, that is enough.

**~Escape~**

" _I am in blood_

_Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,_

_Returning were as tedious as go o'er." – William Shakespeare,_ Macbeth

Late at night, the shadows cling to the corners of the room. Whispers of voices, speaking to him throughout the night, trapped raging and scared beneath his pillow. The voices of those lost, the voices of those innocent. The ones who didn't have to die.

Sometimes he can distract himself; sometimes he can pretend that he is not the person he is. But distraction is never enough. Distraction merely postpones the torment, merely puts it into a corner from which it later escapes, all the more enraged for its imprisonment.

'The events of our lives make us who we are', a great philosopher once said. Others had argued with him, 'But I was more myself before this terrible tragedy happened. I was more myself before these cruel things were done unto me'. 'But what is self' he asked, 'if not the product of our experience?'

He believed that he was the product of his experiences. All the way from that hellish land he had just wanted to be at home; he had assumed that when he got there, he would be the same. But he could never be the same.

He could never go back, and he could never, ever escape.

**~Crazy~**

" _Bill, strange things are afoot at the Circle K." – Ted,_ Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

"If everything is so hectic, then why are we driving to the store?"

Tayend rolled his eyes at the question, and nodded towards the front seat. "Because those two are hungry, and need food. And since they are our 'tireless' workers, we're pandering to their wishes."

Dannyl grinned. "Not that I'm not happy to get out of your mess, but why are  _we_  going?"

Tayend shoved him playfully. "It's not all my mess! You've made loads of it too!"

"Have not!" Dannyl laughed, shoving him back.

"It all belongs to you two, so it's all your mess," Osen said from where he was lounging on the front seat. "Though most of it does belong to Tayend."

"That is so unfair!" Tayend yelled, looking for something to throw at the back of Osen's head.

Unfortunately, he was spotted. "Tayend, if you throw anything I'll throw you out of my car," Lorlen warned menacingly. "Honestly, I'm trying to drive here. It's like having a group of three-year-olds in here with me."

"Because Tayend has the mind of a three-year-old," Osen sniggered.

"That's not funny!" Tayend yelled. He sneakily reached for an old tissue, took aim-

"Tayend, I can see you. Don't throw stuff."

When they eventually arrived at Circle K, the argument had moved on into what they were going to buy. "Cheese puffs!" Tayend yelled as they all piled out.

"Forget it! Doritos! I thought you weren't hungry!" Osen cried, and they both legged it in through the automatic doors, yelling at each other about various items and why they should or shouldn't be bought.

This left Dannyl and Lorlen to amble in slowly behind them. "Really, I don't know him," Lorlen laughed, watching the others race off, "He's not really my boyfriend, honest."

Dannyl chuckled. "Yeah, you're about as similar as chalk and cheese."

Lorlen whacked him on the arm. "Are not. We're similar in loads of ways."

"Whatever," Dannyl snorted. Lorlen was about to reply, when suddenly a yowling cat ran straight across their path. They both stared after it, and it disappeared into the bushes at the other side of the car park. They shared a look, and Dannyl shrugged. "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K," he laughed.

**~Subway~**

" _You don't look at each other on the subway." - Simon Pegg_

Bleak and grey, the subway platform looked as it usually did this early in the morning.  _That would be bleak and grey, then,_ Lorlen thought, stamping his feet against the cold. A minute later the train arrived and he stalked moodily onto it, again annoyed at having to get up so early in the morning to go to work. It did come with the advantage of being able to sit down, however.

This morning he chose to sit in one of the few spare seats next to an old lady and a scared looking kid. He scratched the end of his nose as the train pulled off, then got the feeling someone was watching him. He glanced up.

A guy about his own age, sitting opposite, was looking at him. He darted his eyes away when Lorlen met his gaze, and focused his attention on something at the other end of the carriage. Lorlen shrugged mentally and picked his book out of his bag; he had a long way to go.

However, he found he couldn't focus. Whenever he wasn't looking, the feeling of being watched intensified. When he glanced up, it was always the same guy, just staring at him with the same odd expression. Lorlen would have told him to f-ck off usually, but there was something about the guy that gave him the creeps. It wasn't that he was creepy; just a normal guy in a thick waterproof and jeans, with dark hair that curled kind of cutely around his face. No, it was more…a feeling. Like he'd seen him before, only he knew he hadn't.

All in all, he was happy to get off at his stop, though he felt himself watched the whole time until he was out of sight. He felt a shiver run through him, like someone had walked over his grave.  _It's nothing,_ he told himself as he walked on his way,  _it's not like I know the guy. And seriously, would I_ want  _to know some weirdo that stares at random people on the subway?_


End file.
